56 THE BANUNCTJLUS FAMILT. 



2. Lesser Thalictrum. Thalictrum minns, Linn. 



(Eng. Bot. t. 11. T. majus, Eng. Bot. t. 611, and T. flexuosum, 

 Bab. Man.) 



A very variable species ; in dry limestone soils often not more than a 

 foot high, of a glaucous hue, or slightly downy ; in moist, rich situations 

 (where however it is seldom found) it is much larger and greener, but rea- 

 dily distinguished from the following species by its loose panicle occupying 

 a great part of its height ; the pedicels also are as long or longer than the 

 flower, and recurved at least before the flower is expanded, altliough it be- 

 comes erect as the fruit ripens. Stem usually in zigzag, making a bend at 

 every node. Petioles, especially of the lower and root-leaves, three or four 

 times divided, with very numerous, small leaflets, roundish or broadly 

 wedge-shaped, trifid and toothed. Flowers usually of a pale greenish-yel- 

 low, with a pink tinge on the sepals. Stamens numerous, with long, nar- 

 row anthers. Carpels from 3 to 5 or 6, very acute and strongly furrowed. 



In dry situations, chiefly in Umestone countries, throughout Europe and 

 Russian Asia, except the extreme north. Scattered over Britain, chiefly in 

 Scotland and north-western England, but not common. Fl. summer. Several 

 varieties, distinguished by size, colour, pubescence, luxuriance of foliage, 

 etc., or by the lower leaves being fully developed or reduced to mere sheaths, 

 have been described as species by Continental botanists ; and three or four 

 of these forms have been mentioned as British, but their characters are ex- 

 ceedingly vague and uncertain. 



3. 'Vello'w Thalictrum. Tbalictmni flavum, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 367. Meadow Rue.) 



The largest of the British species, being generally from 2 to 3 feet in height 

 and of a deeper green than the last. Stem stout and furrowed. Leaves 

 large, the stalks two or three times divided, the leaflets much fewer than in 

 the lesser T., but larger, being often an inch in length, obovate or wedge- 

 shaped at the base. Panicle compact and rather corymbose. Pedicels short 

 and erect even before the flower expands. Flowers, especially the stamens, 

 decidedly yellow. 



In moist meadows, and along ditches, in Europe and Russian Asia, scarcely 

 extending so far north as the lesser T. Found in England, Ireland, and 

 southern Scotland, but not very common. Ft. sztmmer. Here again some 

 botanists distinguish several species, according as the rootstock is more or less 

 creeping, or whether sessile leaflets resembling stipules are or not formed at 

 the base of the branches of the petiole. 



IIL ANEMONE. ANEMONE. 



Rootstock perennial. Leaves radical. Flower-stem naked, excepting an 

 involucre of three leaves usually at a considerable distance from tlie flowers. 

 Sepals 5 or more, frequently 6, coloured and petal-like, longer than the 

 stamens. No petals. Stamens numerous. Carpels numerous, one-seeded, 

 pointed or ending in a long feathery awn. 



A large genus, found in almost all temperate regions of the globe, chiefly 

 characterized by the three leaves placed in a wliorl, from halfway up the 

 flowering stem to very near the flowers, according to tlie species. When 

 much divided, these leaves may appear at first sight to be more numerous, 



